Soil might be old and inadequately aerated if the plant can't stay in the pot. And pot is probably too small. Ideally you would cut it back and re-pot in spring, but it sounds like something needs to be done now. Cutting it back to stumps as winter approaches probably won't kill it, but you may not see it come back as quickly as it would have if this were done in spring.

If it had a significantly larger pot, it might not be top-heavy anymore.

I just repotted it from a 10" pot. I'll try to propagate and see if it makes a difference for the better. First time propagating anything - hopefully I won't kill it

Picture?

Leggy, AKA etiolated indicates excess distance between nodes. This plant just looks older and taller to me, not etiolated. Looks thirsty, bone dry.

If you want to cut a stem off, it should take root, these propagate easily.

I agree with Tiffany. It doesnt look etiolated.

Also looks like it needs to be repotted.

Are those roots I see at the top?

I see you said you repotted. Many you didnt plant it deep enough.

Yes, it is an older one, my first plant that I haven't killed! Just repotted and my toddlers are kind of rough with it, thus the roots showing.

Here’s leggy! I got this from a friend. How can I save this? Help!

Based on appearance, it's very likely never been repotted; so, I would start thinking about repotting/ dividing it and cutting back/ pruning hard - in June, if you live in the US. To prepare for the repot, I would flush the soil very thoroughly next time it needs water, then fertilize with a high quality fertilizer with an NPK ratio as close to ideal as possible. Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 is at the top of the list of choices. Put it outdoors in open or dappled shade as soon as night temps are reliably above 55*F/ 13*C. A repot includes bare-rooting, root pruning, and a change of grow medium.

That's the outline, if you have questions about the procedures and the why/ wherefores, just ask for additional clarity or guidance. Potting up (to a larger pot) will allow a minimum of relief from root congestion; whereas, repotting eliminates ALL limitations associated with root congestion, and those limitations impose a severe tax on growth, vitality, and eye appeal.

Al

Hi Denise, wow that's an old plant. Actually it's in pretty good condition so there's no issue with "saving it", just how to manage it. You'll have to make it ugly to make it pretty again. Simplest thing to do is cut all the long stems coming out of the soil to about 3 inches above it. Leave alone any that are less than 6 inches long. All the bare stems will produce 2 to 3 plants each, so you'll have a VERY full pot in a few months. As far as all those long stems left over with leaves at the tips, they're a propagator's dream for a lot more plants. Must be a good couple of dozen tip cuttings if you want to propagate them, take off all leaves from the tip leaving 3 or so at the top, cut the stem to leave a 6 inch cutting that you'll put in water to root. If you're experienced in propagation with a medium like regular potting soil, a mix with perlite, or long fiber sphagnum moss, use that.

Here are some more options and techniques.

That big pot is probably full of roots, once you've cut the long stems away you could repot into a pot not more than 4 or 5 inches wider than the one it's in. That means 2 or so inches around the sides of the rootball when you place it inside.

You could also unpot the plant and carefully (for your safety, not the plant) cut the rootball into sections with a large knife or even a hand saw. Depending on location of the stems in the rootball, either cut it like a cake into half or fourths, or locate several stems close together and cut around them. Keep doing the same until you have the rootball into sections with several stems each. Plant each section into an appropriately size pot.

The stems can also be propagated to produce new plants. You can see 'sections' on stems indicated by a ring encircling them. Each section has a small bump, or node, which is a potential plant waiting to grow. I like to use 3 node cuttings laid sideways in a medium, cover leaving half to 1/4 of the stem showing. To plant upright, cut stems with 4 to 5 nodes, plant leaving half the stem showing above the soil. Make sure you plant the original bottom of the stem downwards, planting the top down won't work. If you're not sure after cutting, plant it sideways as above. When cutting a lot of stems, I cut the 'down end' on a slant and the 'up end' straight across so I can't make a mistake and forget which is up.

I can't enlarge your pic enough to ID the variety of your aglaonema, the wide, dark green spot toward tops of leaves indicates it could be Moonlight Bay, but the rest of the leaf is different. I'd be interested in getting some of the leftover stems if you wouldn't mind sending. I can buy, pay postage or trade for plants from my collections.

I'm sure you'll have more questions, post here or get back with me at bluesea14808@yahoo.com.

by propagating the growth tips.. and when those are going.. get rid of the mess in the pot ...

no one provided the proper name above.. so i used the common name.. hope its the right plant...

propagation vids : https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Aglaonema+propagation&t=ffcm&iax=videos&ia=videos

denise ..... next time start your own post..... and answers will come to you in that post..

once youve cut all the pieces off.. you can cut back the old parts to a few inches.. and give the pot the rest of summer to see if it can get its act together ... and if not.. so what.. you have a dozen new plants .. which are the old plant ... so its still an heirloom ...

and if it come back nicely.. repot it in early fall.. and figure out where you can put it for winter. .in such a huge pot ...

ken